Electric and electronic devices or systems are cooled in operation in order to avoid excessive temperatures and consequently failure of the devices. Such electronic devices or systems can include, for example, electric and electronic devices in an electric and/or electronic system with a cabinet. Electric and electronic applications feature not only high rates of heat generation by the devices, but also high power densities, for example, heat fluxes.
Medium voltage power electronic converters to be inserted in a cabinet may be built in a modular way, using a large number of identical units to facilitate flexible and economic production, customer-specific configuration and servicing. One topology of power converters may consist of a large number of identical cells, wherein each cell functionally consists of two switches and one capacitor. The switches may be Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) with anti-parallel diodes. Both switches may be available in the form of an IGBT module. Several IGBT modules can be put in parallel to increase the current rating.
Air cooling systems for cooling electric or electronic devices in a cabinet may include an array of fins extending from a base plate and may utilize at least one fan for forced convection in order to reduce the thermal load of the electric or electronic devices by dumping the heat to a location distant to the electric or electronic devices.